Excellent post.
http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20050613/012335.html
Question, though. You make a persuasive case why liberal Christian's do not rush to the side of the secular left, and that European anti-clericalism is self-destructive for the American left. Yet, why don't liberal Christians do more for their own side, for their own sake?
Though it is not always explicit, they are favored targets of Rapture Republicans & Co. Fundamentalism, as you said, is primarily an inter-church struggle.
Maybe my national perspective of the response of liberal Christians is distorted by my southern experience (born, raised, trying to leave), but I do not see much of a liberal Christian challenge. Certainly nothing on the scale I would expect from a cross-section of Americans as large as they surely are, several times our heathen numbers. Is it simply a matter of patient tolerance?? If American religion is akin to identity politics, wouldn't liberal Christians be compelled to respond and defend their identity more assertively??
I have known many liberal Christians who are appalled by Rapture Republicans, not much less than I am. Yet, the public challenge is sparse, often muted, and rarely sustained. Or so it seems from down here in Texas. Surely this is a boon to the right, since it plays into the secularism versus religion cast they want to give to the debate.
-- Shane